See our Super Bowl road trip photo album with Flat Pat, Trav & Taylor Swift

Editor’s Note: This is a dispatch from our Red Kingdom Road Trip. We’re connecting with Chiefs fans across the country ahead of the Super Bowl — share your story with us using this form. Read more from our journey to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl here on KansasCity.com, in our newsletters, or on The Star’s Instagram.

No road trip is complete without a photo album. And The Star’s Red Kingdom Road Trip is no different.

We sent Star journalists Alison Booth, Emily Curiel and Irvin Zhang on the road to meet Chiefs fans along the way to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. Also in the car: life-size cutouts of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Chiefs’ most famous fan, Taylor Swift.

Inspired by the beloved children’s book and project Flat Stanley, we thought that Flat Pat and crew would make for fun photo opportunities for fans our team met along the way. We’ll keep updating this with more photos from the trip.

Kansas

At our first stop in Sedgwick, Kansas, we met Dennis Basye, a superfan whose house and yard are decked out with Chiefs memorabilia. Dennis’ son, friends and neighbors came out to join the fun, and it was incredibly sweet to see how excited everyone was about Dennis, our trip and the big game.

Oklahoma

After our team crossed into Oklahoma, where we stopped for a photo shoot with Pat, Trav and Taylor in front of the “Welcome to Oklahoma” sign.

Then cruised on to Guymon, Oklahoma, where we met Philip Rineberg and Elizabeth Brown who shared stories of resilience in the face of Broncos and Cowboys fans.

Texas

We made it to Patrick Mahomes’ home state of Texas so we of course had to stop for a photo to celebrate Flat Pat’s return.

A stop at Whataburger was a must. We took Flat Pat to this location in Amarillo. He loves the Texas burger chain so much that he is part of the ownership group that brought Whataburger to the Kansas City area.

In case you’re wondering... he has shared his two favorite orders, plus his wife Brittany Mahomes’ order:

“It kind of depends. There are several different things I get. I’ve gone there a lot in my life,” Mahomes said. “So obviously I get just the No. 1 with cheese, ketchup, pickles only, with a large fry and large Coke. But they also have this thing on Texas toast, a barbecue chicken strip sandwich which I like a lot, and Brittany always makes us get the honey butter chicken biscuits in the morning.”

Texas Tech, Patrick Mahomes’ college home

We traveled across Lubbock, Texas, trying to answer one simple question: How much has this tight-knit college town — population 260,993 — embraced Mahomes as the pride of Texas Tech? We met a muralist who is making sure Mahomes’ mark is left on Lubbock and even tried the quarterback’s favorite college cheat meal.

New Mexico

In New Mexico, we met a family who is adding to the Kingdom one generation at a time, fans who are representing the Chiefs even in Broncos country, and one couple who has possibly the most elaborate superstitions we’ve come across yet.

This story was originally published February 6, 2024 at 5:45 AM.